Why No Respect for two very important members of our Red Sox whose efforts often go unnoticed and are the brunt of very frequent jibes among the bloggers on this forum? One of these individuals, Terry Francona, earned his 1,000th managerial win this summer. . He joined an exclusive list along with 56 other managers who have performed this feat but only 41 of those managers have a winning percentage of .500 or better like Tito. Within the 1000 win club, Francona is 25th overall in winning percentage. And he is the only Sox manager since 1918 to win World Series championships. The other is pitcher Tim Wakefield, who last night won his 200th game. He is a great teammate and competitor. Looking back on Wake’s career will be like looking back on his knuckleball. There were days when it drove us crazy, when we didn’t know what was going to happen; in the end Wake always put his head down and did his work. He deserved the 200 wins; a milestone, that is becoming more and more difficult to achieve. So congrats to Wake.

Lean to separate emotional opinion from fact. Great competitor comes from great competitive results that is peerless.

1. Never use "great" when referring to Wakefield. Nothing about him is great

2. ERA is over 5 for 2nd half 2009, all of 2010 and all of 2011

3. He has been ineffective and washed up since second half of 2009 but management is responding by ceremonial individual longevity record tour booster seating Wakefield who is a much more popular player than Ortiz

4. He is the 7th Knuckleballer to reach 200 career wins, and the oldest to do so.

5. There are only 23 pitchers in MLB history who primarily used a knuckleball.

6. If Wakefield was answerable to merit on NYY or nearly every other MLB team, he would have been released no later than during the 2010 season.

7. It was a huge distraction and fiasco that Wakefield is glad is over. No one is more glad it is over than I am.

8. There is no merit based reason to offer Wakefield more than a minor league contract for 2012

9. My opinion is that if Wakefield wakes up and respects the game he will retire at season end from MLB as a player.

10. My concern is that Wakefield and middle management will continue to disrespect the integrity of the competition and bring Wakefield back for another cap tipping PR individual ceremonial tour, to follow up the cap tipping after grand slam and cap tipping after 2 homers and 5 runs.

and on the same subject: saw a Sports Illustrated poll of MLB players: Who would you like to play for? Uncle Joe Maddon, 1st with 16% 2nd, Terry Francona with 14%. So if the people who play this game think Terry's OK, even the posters here should, too.Posted by Tropical-Nation

Those who think Francona is a bad manager would say: of course the players would want to play for him, because he coddles players and doesn't step on anyones toes. But that is all he is good at.

Why No Respect for two very important members of our Red Sox whose efforts often go unnoticed and are the brunt of very frequent jibes among the bloggers on this forum? One of these individuals, Terry Francona, earned his 1,000 th managerial win this summer. . He joined an exclusive list along with 56 other managers who have performed this feat but only 41 of those managers have a winning percentage of .500 or better like Tito. Within the 1000 win club, Francona is 25 th overall in winning percentage. And he is the only Sox manager since 1918 to win World Series championships. The other is pitcher Tim Wakefield, who last night won his 200th game. He is a great teammate and competitor. Looking back on Wake’s career will be like looking back on his knuckleball. There were days when it drove us crazy, when we didn’t know what was going to happen; in the end Wake always put his head down and did his work. He deserved the 200 wins; a milestone, that is becoming more and more difficult to achieve. So congrats to Wake.Posted by Mr.Bump

Because neither has any business whatsoever still being in MLB. That's why.

A case of acute diarrhea, usually of an explosive nature. Often accompanied by a burning sensation. If the proper facilities are not reached in time, the feces could exit the body in a random pattern, hence the name.

Let me add that I've always liked Wakefield and appreciate the contribution he's made to this team. Also, as a septuagenarian, I like to see older athletes achieve milestones. However, he might seriously consider retiring now on a good note. Or, maybe be considered for some 2-3 middle inning relief as good hitters seem to get on to his slower and fatter softball type pitches the 2nd & 3rd time around when he starts a game. But mostly, the first at bats he can fool people...my opinion at least !!!